Sway, Wolf Voodoo, and Tea
by AvaJune
Summary: Bella is his absolute imprint, without the actual voodoo and with none of the fringe benefits. But as her strange behavior increases, Jacob's suspicions are growing. Before she gives herself over and her heart stops beating, he's going to figure out exactly what's wrong. And he's going to do what he does best. FIX it.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hello readers! This fic is what is affectionately called a 'tropefest.' We've got 'wolf-instincts,' 'alpha-imprints-weird,' 'vampire-allure-makes-Bella-strange,' and many other tried and true favorites in the Twilight Fandom. It's also a fix-it fic, because eleven years later, I'm evidently still not over it.😉That being said, I hope you enjoy my take on a Jacob ending!**

**PS: This fic will be 3 parts plus an epilogue, and an eventual smut outtake on A03 if I get enough interest. It is already written and will be updated daily through the epilogue.**

Jacob lay in his bed, staring at the door where the love of his life had just quietly left the scene of her crime; the scene where she had tenderly and lovingly eviscerated him. Again.

Being used to the pain that Bella Swan inevitably brought in her wake didn't actually lessen it.

Time is what he'd asked her for but it was a lie. Every bone in his body ached and quite a few were causing him actual agony as they knit together way too fast but the throbbing that ripped through his soul at the thought of Bells not being around made all that pale in comparison. His wolf clawed at him, furious at the sight of her walking away again and his agreement to let her. She was his everything; his absolute imprint without the actual voodoo and none of the fringe benefits. But for all of the anguish she caused, Jacob just COULD NOT let her go completely. He couldn't; not to HIM.

But hell, there she was, walking away again whether he could give her up or not.

He knew Bella was convinced that he was holding on so stubbornly because he loved her so damn much but that wasn't entirely true. Yeah, he really did love her enough to live for her, die for her, burn for her; he also loved her enough to let her go. His wolf may have raged at the thought but the man would never agree to keep her if it wasn't what she wanted.

He could let her go, he could. But he couldn't fucking let her die.

Taking aside her planned suicide by blood sucker, something was so incredibly wrong with the way she was with that leech. Something always niggled at the back of his mind and he couldn't abandon her to that fate even if it hadn't meant she'd become a walking corpse. Recently, his suspicions had grown into full blown paranoia but surprisingly it was that kiss, that kiss that she had offered him in fear and hopelessness, that truly convinced him that he needed to do something more than beg her to live for him.

It was in the way Bella's lips had pressed into his. She had kissed him with enough desperation and terror to damn near bring him to his knees. Jacob always assumed a real kiss with his Bells would make his wolf purr the same way her hugs and touches did, but this kiss; it made his wolf whine. Her arms had latched around his neck like he was the only air at the bottom of the ocean, the water all around waiting to fill her lungs and drown her (which, frankly, was painfully accurate imagery.) He had been looking to pour his love into her, looking to shake her foundations enough that she'd understand the depths of his devotion, but instead he had found his Bells screaming into him with fear and he just knew he was missing something vital.

Then she came to him after the battle, after his bones had been rent, healed all wrong, and broken all over again and it was just too much. Because she had told him that she loved him, she did, but it wasn't enough. And he was so tired of fighting, wasn't he? All that shit about not being able to save someone if they didn't want to save themselves ran through his mind. He'd been fighting vamps, fighting his shifting body and the animal split in his soul, fighting for her acknowledgement and her heart. Part of him, the tired and broken part of the MAN, had thought maybe it was time to truly give her up.

Except...

When she said goodbye, when she stood and walked away from his bed, Bella's eyes were already dead. The light that always burned, that always lit her up from the inside, had gone out at the moment she forced herself to walk away from him. And that just couldn't be right, because to date, her heart was still beating.

Something was WRONG. The wolf agreed.

So he'd take the time he asked for, but it wasn't going to be spent getting over her. He was going to figure out exactly what was wrong and he was going to do what Jacob did best.

FIX it.

* * *

Jacob waited until his bones were mostly mended and he had use of both his wrists before he drug himself out to his garage and started out with a list.

He wrote down what he knew about his Bella, what made her tick, and then what he knew about Edward's Bella. It took him two hours but when he was done, he sat back and bit his lip hard enough to almost draw blood.

The discrepancies were a little unnerving.

Edward's Bella needed him. She needed the leech more than she needed her next breath, more than she needed water, more than she needed anything. Without Edward, she had no will to survive. With Edward, she had no will to survive either, but that was another story entirely. Everything lost its meaning if he wasn't around for her to filter the world through. She absorbed everything as a facet of him instead of as an individual thing. Food wasn't food anymore, it was something that Edward didn't consume or need. Her truck that she loved was an eyesore that Edward didn't like. Her room was not a place she slept but a place that Edward held her (or watched her sleep. Totally normal behavior.) Nothing existed as it did before him; there was only every single thing in the universe and how it all shifted to revolve around Edward.

Jacob's Bella, though, didn't need Jacob as a filter. Sure, she wanted him to hold her hand as she figured things out and he loved that; loved that she trusted him to make her safe, keep her steady. She wanted him at her back before she took a scary, new step into the unknown. But at the end of the day, she wanted Jacob as training wheels. He was there to help her figure it out for herself, not make her dependent. It was Jacob's job to build her up and then set her free.

Then there were the things that Bella allowed Edward to get away with. He lied to take her away to Phoenix without telling her about the danger she was in? She forgave him. He abandoned her in the middle of the woods and she almost died from hypothermia? Fucking forgave him. He stole the engine to her truck to keep her from seeing her friends on the rez? Forgave him. On and on and on, whatever Edward wanted, Edward eventually got.

Jacob, however; Jacob she wouldn't hesitate to leave in the damn dust for bad behavior. He disappeared on her when he went wolf and she chased him down. She called him out for breaking a promise and despite her insecurity and her discomfort, she put him in his place. Hell, the first time he kissed her, she literally punched him in the face and that was after she knew he was a shifter.

Bella wasn't assertive by nature, but with Jacob, she'd found enough comfort to demand his respect, at least a little. She seemed incapable of doing that with Edward and she just took whatever he gave her. The ONLY time she demanded anything from Edward was when it came to matters concerning her relationship with Jacob.

When he thought about it, Edward and his family pulled Bella under in the tide of all that they were. They pushed at her and pulled at her until she began to liquify to fit in the mold they forced her into. He didn't even think they did it on purpose, almost like it was just the nature of the leeches, but it happened all the same. Seriously, what was all that 'Bella Barbie' stuff she had complained to him about? Jacob would beat the shit out of anyone who tried to force Bells to change or made her feel inadequate. She was everything, and she was perfect. So why did Edward let his sister do it?

Bella just wasn't Bella with the leeches. She was some watered down, half alive, overly pleasing version of herself and it literally turned his stomach. Why did she do that and how did it happen? It was fucking weird, because it was like an abusive relationship but it was even sneakier than that. She literally DIMMED around them. She just became... less. Pliable. Flat.

The wolf HATED it.

Jacob sucked in a breath through his teeth as he studied his list, his eyes widening even as his fists clenched and his heart began to pound. He'd better be wrong about this; he NEEDED to be wrong about this and he needed to talk to his dad.

He didn't pause as he burst through the front door, having quickly jogged the few feet from his garage to the small, rundown house he called home.

"What do we know about the Cold One's sway? All of it," he demanded without preamble.

Billy blinked up from the TV dinner he was poking at and met Jacob's eyes with his own, confused ones.

"What's this about, Jake?" Billy asked slowly, setting his plastic fork down and studying his son carefully.

"I've been thinking, Dad," Jacob said, collapsing into the armchair and muting the TV. "About Bella and what we have and what she has with the leech. I know she says she loves him and I know how they are together and something about it just seems really wrong to me."

"Aside from the obvious, vampire with a human girl thing?" Billy said wryly.

Jacob grimaced and ran his hand down his face. "Yeah. Aside from that."

Billy sat back in his chair and rubbed his chin, eyes going slightly out of focus as he considered. "Well, you know I've read all the same journals you have, but our understanding of the effects of the vampires is still limited. We do know that their scent and the sound of their voice can have a narcotic effect on their selected prey. Of course, they're also inhumanly beautiful and if they aren't the focus of that vampire's attention, rather than drawing the human in, people find them off putting. It seems the sway only starts once the vampire focuses on their victim."

Jacob's throat tightened and he had to swallow several times before he could speak again. Edward was certainly focused on Bella. Finally, he forced the words out of his mouth, biting back the instinctive growl that was trying to rumble through his throat. "Long term effects?"

Billy's eyes snapped to Jacob's and held, but he could see his dad's brain firing quickly, drawing conclusions and connecting dots. "You don't think-"

He stopped himself and took a deep breath, the air whistling in through his teeth. "That's kind of hard to say. There really are no stories documenting any long-term effects sway would have on people, as they aren't normally around long enough for any to be seen. Some of the more obscure legends talk about some of the overarching consequences for spirit warriors in times of war, when their exposure to the scent and venom is highest, but even then, regular humans are not exposed over long periods of time."

Jacob's eyes narrowed. "I thought venom killed us."

"In the bloodstream? Definitely," Billy said with a solemn nod. "But in the air or on the skin? No, it isn't fatal. You should know that from your reading. It can make you real sick, though. Like the worst flu you can imagine and it can sometimes even cause temporary psychosis. It's poison, son."

"Dad, if leeches can affect the wolves so badly over time, what the hell are they doing to little Bella?" Jacob fought a whimper as his chest constricted, his wolf pacing in agitation at the conclusions he was drawing. "We're not even affected by that vamp mojo, and they still mess us up. Do you remember how she was, so fucking out of it and damn near comatose? She used to hallucinate Edward's voice, not to mention the way she described that god damn hole in her chest. She swore when he left, he took her heart and lungs with him."

Jacob shook his head to clear it, pushing down hard on the wolf's tumultuous movements before glancing over once more at his father's grave expression. "I mean, I hate the fucker, but I think Cullen really does think he loves Bella. I don't think he'd keep her under the sway all this time, but she's so... not right with them. I mean, even if you ignore her willingness to die to become one, she's still just not Bells, not really."

Billy sighed and rubbed at his chin again. "Who's to say that the sway is even something they do consciously? It's a hunting instinct and no matter what the Cullen's try to do, in the end, humans are their natural food source. They can only fold themselves into that fake humanity so much."

Jacob groaned, feeling at once helpless and really, really stupid for not figuring this out sooner. He had just been so damn busy, what with the turning into a wolf thing and then trying to protect the woman he loved from an army of newborn vampires, not to mention dealing with the OTHER bloodsuckers.

"Why didn't you tell me this shit, Dad?!" He gritted out, a growl wrenching its way from his chest without permission. "Don't you think I had a right to know these things could be happening!?"

Billy laughed without humor. "Jacob Black, every last bit of this is in the journals, the journals only YOU as the rightful alpha and the Elders have access to. I TOLD you to read them and I assumed you had, although now I'm realizing you obviously didn't. I love Bella, you know that, and she's important to me, but I don't spend nearly the time you do thinking about that little girl. Besides, she's YOUR mate. It's your right to manage that relationship how you see fit."

Jacob's head shot up and his mouth gaped open as he stared at his father. His wolf was purring suspiciously, but Jacob chose to ignore him. "She's not my imprint. It's not like Sam and Em, or Jared and Kim. I love her and I'd do anything for her, but it isn't some damn mystical wolf thing."

Billy huffed and crossed his arms, glaring at his son in open disapproval. "Did you seriously not read ANY of the journals?"

When Jacob didn't answer, Billy simply ignored him and continued.

"You're the ALPHA, son. Nothing is quite the same for you as it is for them. You gotta be able to keep your head, keep your focus, no matter what. All this 'do anything, be anything' business would make you a pretty shit leader if you imprinted and she begged you to leave the pack entirely and you just did. No, for the true alpha, you get a mate, but it doesn't subjugate your will. Every other wolf in the pack will bow to the alpha and if they are blessed with one, they bow to their imprint. The alpha, though; the alpha bows to no one."

Jacob just continued to stare suspiciously at his father, unable to speak. Billy rolled his eyes.

"Think about it this way, son," he continued. "The only thing that can temper the imprint bond is an alpha order, right? Well, the alpha doesn't have anyone to order him to do the right thing. He has to have the will within himself. You get a mate, but the wolf just points her out; no compulsion and no pull at first. The man can choose to deny her, unlike with an imprint, though I imagine your wolf wouldn't take that laying down. It's about the marking, with the alpha, and only the alpha gets to mark a mate."

His wolf was preening under the discussion of mates, but Jacob's head was reeling. "No, that's not right. The other guys have bitten their mates."

"Bites ain't the same as marking," Billy replied with exasperation. "Look, wolves like to sink their teeth into what's theirs, no surprise there. But marking is different. The actual mark is a -what did ya call it? A 'Mystical Wolf Thing.' Imprint benefits and pack status after the marking, but no subjugation of will. In your case, you've loved Bella all your life. Seems to me the man selected a mate and the wolf approved."

Jacob closed his eyes for a moment and looked to the wolf pacing in his soul, wondering if his father could possibly be right. The wolf looked back with determined eyes and a smug growl. Fuck, how exactly had he missed that? Probably because he didn't even know what he was looking for.

He really should read the journals.

"It's one of the reasons, sooner or later, you are going to have to take your place," Billy continued. "Sam is always going to put Emily first; he can't help himself. The pack needs YOU to come along and put the pack first."

"I always put Bella first," Jacob stated firmly.

"Well, yeah. You ain't the alpha yet," Billy reasoned. "Trust me, you'll get what I'm saying once you take the reins. In the meantime, though, if you don't want to lose your mate to the undead, you may want to get your head together. Sounds like you're finally ready to actually do something about this mess with the leech. Is it finally time for you to pull that stubborn head out of your ass and accept that maybe Bella needs a little more than you just crying for her to pick you?"

Jacob took a deep breath, allowing his lungs to expand fully even though his ribs still creaked with pain. Part of him - and he could now own up to that bit- part of him had been holding back out of fear he'd imprint. He'd been terrified on some level that he would be wrong and he'd break her heart worse than Cullen ever had. He'd thrown himself into to keeping her alive, but he'd held back when he tried to keep her for himself. Now that he knew, now that he could see how his wolf was ready to claim his mate and had chosen her just as much as the man, he simply nodded.

"Good," Billy said firmly with a wide grin. "Cause I got an idea."


	2. Chapter 2

Jacob dialed Bella's cell number, the one Alice Cullen had insisted she get because the pixie went blind when she was around the wolves, and leaned his head on the rough wooden wall of his house. He forced himself to breath evenly as he waited for his Bells to pick up. If this didn't work out and he and his dad were wrong, she'd probably hate him for it. If it did work though, even a little bit, and it kept her breathing-

"Jake! Hi! How are you?"

Bella's voice drifted over the speaker and his heart clenched at just how excited she was to hear from him. It had been two weeks since he'd last seen her and the distance was killing him. He'd gotten the wedding invitation a few days ago but aside from trashing the garage in an agony filled rage, he was ignoring that.

The wolf, for his part, was quiet. The animal seemed to feel the same way about the plan they had made as it did about stalking prey. Patience was an attribute the wolf had that the man certainly did not.

"Hey Bells. Yeah, I'm doing okay, all things considered," he murmured into the phone. "Miss you."

There was a pause before Bella took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. "I miss you, too."

Jacob cleared his throat. "Listen, I know what I said about needing time and all that, but-"

(Fuck, this was hard to even say, hard to think about)

"You aren't planning to be... available-"

(Alive, breathing, soft and squishy and my Bells)

"-very much longer so, I was kind of hoping we could get together. Maybe you could come down to the Rez and spend the weekend?"

Silence reigned for a moment on the other end of the phone, but before she could say anything, Jacob cut back in.

"Nothing funny, Bells," he assured her, even though it ripped his heart to shreds to lie to her like this. True, there likely wouldn't be any of the 'funny business' she was thinking of, but there would be plenty of weird to go around. "Just you and me being best friends. That's it; that's all I'm asking for."

Bella took a breath and Jacob grit his teeth when he heard Edward's voice loud and clear in the background as the leech clearly responded to the conversation he had undoubtedly been listening to.

"Love, I'm not sure that's a good idea. You know how I feel about you being somewhere I cannot get to you and how it concerns me for your safety."

Jacob could almost see Bella chewing her lip and darting glances at the fucker as she tried to work out what she wanted to say. His heart dropped as he considered that he may be too late, she may truly refuse him, and he NEEDED this. He wasn't sure how else to make this happen if she wouldn't come to the rez willingly for a couple of da-

"Sure, Jake. I'd really, really like that."

He exhaled harshly as relief swamped his body. His wolf purred in smug satisfaction.

"Great," Jacob breathed into the phone. "I've got patrol, but I'll have Embry meet you at the treaty line Friday after school, okay?"

There was no way Jacob could go, not with the leech dropping her off and going through his mind like it was a pop-up book. Edward would pick the events of the coming weekend out of his mind in no time flat and then all his planning would be for not.

"Okay," came Bella's sweet voice over the line. "See ya soon."

"Yep," he murmured. "Bye Bells."

"Bye Jake."

* * *

Jacob braced his hands on the wood of his work bench, his head hanging down against his chest as he waited to hear the soft grumbles of Embry's car on approach. None of the pack knew what was going to happen the next few days except Sam, and he had alpha ordered Jacob not to think about the real plan while phased. As far as his friend knew, Bella was just coming to hang out for a weekend and that was probably for the best.

Gravel crunched under the tires as Embry swung the car into his driveway and Jacob forced himself to release the wood lest he crush it to pieces beneath his hands. The car stopped and the doors opened and before he could make a conscious decision to move, Jacob was out of the garage and scooping Bella into his arms, squeezing her tighter than he should as he buried his head in her hair.

God, she smelled so good. He'd heard the leeches say she smelled like lilacs and freesias, but that had never been what Jacob got from her. To him, she was vanilla and cream, cinnamon, with a little bit of strawberries mixed in from her shampoo. She smelled delicious and like home and his wolf positively reveled in the scent of her.

Normally, Bella would make a crack about how she needed to breath and start pushing him away, but not this time. She must have been just as desperate as he was because her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms clung to his neck and she embraced him back just as hard. She either didn't notice or didn't bother to comment on his lie about patrolling. Jacob held her for a few moments, nodding at Embry when the guy pulled her bag from his car, winked, and retreated without a word to give them time together.

Embry was always good at knowing when to just quietly see himself out.

Finally, Jacob moved to put her down but she clung harder and whimpered into his neck. "Not yet," she whispered, continuing to spider monkey onto his front. "I missed you so much."

Forcing a swallow down his dry throat at the feel of her pressed against him and the words coming out of her mouth, Jacob said nothing as he stooped to pick up her duffel bag with his free hand and carry her towards the house. This was fine, honestly, as far as he was concerned. She could stay clinging to him forever. They'd eat stomach to stomach and he'd sleep on his back and she could just stay right where she was indefinitely.

The wolf was in approval of the idea. It's where she belonged anyway.

Jacob moved into his silent house, down the hall and into his bedroom where he dropped her bag on the floor and sat down on his bed. His dad was at Old Quil's, finishing up the herb pouch they'd be bringing to dinner for Bella's tea, so there was no one there to raise an eyebrow at the strange behavior of the pair of them. Sooner than he'd like though, Bella seemed to come to her senses and she quickly disentangled herself, tripping over her shoelaces as she scrambled to her feet.

Jacob caught her with his big hands around her waist, steadying her to keep her from falling backward.

"Thanks," she mumbled with a shy smile, cheeks blazing as she stepped out of his hold and wiped her hands on her jeans. "I'm sorry I just, um, grabbed you like that. I just really, really missed you. But that's, like, weird or whatever and-"

"S' fine, Bells," Jacob interrupted her before she could really get herself going. "I missed you, too."

Bella's blush climbed down her neck and under her shirt and Jacob fought really hard to squash the curiosity of just how far down it went.

She cleared her throat. "Right. Well, I brought food," she said, moving to open her duffel and pull out three bags from the grocery store in Forks. "I wanted to make a special dinner for you and Billy tonight and have leftovers for tomorrow, so I got a few whole chickens to roast and I thought we'd have that with smashed potatoes and green beans. I also bought some angel food cake, for dessert."

Jacob reached out and grabbed the bags from her, chuckling at the annoyed huff she let out.

"Sounds great," he told her with a sunny smile, ignoring the reality that by the time dessert rolled around she'd be in no position to eat it. "Actually, Old Quil and Sam will be here for dinner too."

He moved into the kitchen with Bella trailing behind him, studiously avoiding her eye as he began putting the groceries away.

"Oh, that's- not that I mind or anything, but why are they all coming for dinner?" Bella asked with just a hint of suspicion in her voice.

"It was already planned before we knew you were coming, Bells," Jacob told her, closing the fridge door and crumbling the plastic bags up. Technically, that was true. They had already planned out the dinner and everything else before he even asked her to come.

Bella smiled weakly. "Good thing I got three chickens then," she muttered.

The rest of the afternoon was spent watching the staticky TV and joking around. He had been wanting to take her to First Beach, but a heavy storm rolled in and instead they spent the day holed up on his couch. His nerves started to take him as 6 o'clock approached, bringing with it the very much dreaded and anticipated dinner, but he tried to hold it together. Jacob dipped his fingers in the smashed potatoes just so she'd giggle and try to smack at him, lending an air of normalcy to those last, precious minutes until he heard a knock at the door.

"Sam," Jacob greeted, holding the door open as his alpha slipped past him and into the house.

"Hey Jake," Sam nodded solemnly, offering Bella a small smile before settling himself at the table.

Sam's feelings on Bella were complicated, to say the least. The current alpha was fairly good at hiding his thoughts, but some of it had slipped through. Sam's wolf had been the one to find her on the woods and since that night, the wolf viewed her as a sickly cub, in need of attention and protection. His views weren't quite fatherly, more like that of a brother or cousin, but it was certainly enough that her decision to go back to the vamps had killed him more than a little bit.

Sam didn't love her, but he did feel responsible for her and every second she spent with the Cullens felt like a failure.

Jacob went back to trying to steal bites of food to make Bella laugh but she was too busy shooting slightly nervous looks at Sam to pay him too much attention. Old Quil arrived soon thereafter, with his dad in tow, and the five of them sat down at the table to eat. After everyone was served, Old Quil looked pointedly at Jacob and after taking a steadying breath, he stood.

"Just a second, I forgot the iced tea," he said, moving towards the kitchen.

This was where the plan came in, the one that could possibly take his Bells away forever. He walked to the fridge and opened it, pulling out the pitcher of plain black tea he had already prepared. He poured it into two mugs and set them aside before adding the contents of the herb pouch Old Quil had palmed to him when the man arrived.

He stirred the herbs in with a mix of fear and exhilaration. This herbal blend was an ancient pack secret, one that only the alpha knew about and the tribe's medicine man or woman would know how to make. It was a detox, of sorts, for when a person had been exposed to the sway before being rescued by a pack member or when a wolf had been exposed to the scent of venom too long. The tea acted as an antidote and forced your body to purge the poison from your system.

In humans who happened to be exposed on a limited basis, it tended to induce a slight headache, sweating, and fatigue. The dosage for a wolf was much higher and caused vomiting, fever, and extreme fatigue, with occasional hallucinations. The remedy had never been tried on a human under the sway for an extended period, but then again, they had never had cause to even consider it before. Now though...

The dosage in the tea for tonight was made for humans and since neither his father nor Old Quil had much interaction with the leeches, the effect on them should be negligible. Just in case, he and Sam wouldn't be drinking it, because Sam needed to be able to handle the pack and Jacob needed to be able to handle his mate. Bella, unfortunately, was likely going to be in for a rough ride. At the end, though, she'd know exactly how she felt about the Cullen leech and blood suckers in general without any sort of vampiric effect in her body. She'd know how she felt about becoming one of them, and plotting her own death. If she wanted it, well, that would be that, and she'd likely never forgive Jacob for feeding her this brew without her permission (not that it would matter because he was fairly certain, marked or not, he'd be dying right along with her if she still chose it.) She'd never agree to take it on her own as things were right now; he knew that.

But if she was literally being drugged, if she was being manipulated in ways she couldn't hope to fight, didn't he owe it to her to give her the antidote whether she accepted or not? He'd do the same if he suspected someone had slipped something into her drink at a stupid high school party, though that would be a matter of time for it to pass and not an herbal remedy. If she was being kept constantly under the leech's sway, she literally could not consent to drinking the tea, nor could he trust her ability to make her own choice and tell him no.

It had to be done. The wolf growled in agreement and Jacob's shoulders squared. Okay. He could do this.

Grabbing the two mugs in one hand and the pitcher in the other, he moved to the table and set everything down. The two already poured cups went to Sam and himself before he retreated to the kitchen and grabbed three more.

Bella watched him curiously with a furrowed brow as Jacob poured each of the three remaining people a cup and sat down.

"Jacob? What's in the-" she started to ask but was interrupted.

"Herbal brew prepared specifically by the tribe's medicine man as gratitude for hospitality," Old Quil stated firmly, sipping his own tea and lying through his teeth. "It brings the drinker prosperity and luck. Drink up, girl. It's an honor to receive it and an affront to the tribe to refuse it."

Bella flushed and picked up her drink, trying to sniff it discreetly as she tucked her hair behind her ear. "Um, why are Jake and Sam not-"

"Bad for wolves," the man told her. "Good for humans. Drink."

She took a small sip, but at Old Quil's unwavering, unimpressed gaze she drank more deeply, finishing half of the glass before she set it down in front of her. He nodded and turned his attention to Sam. "So Alpha, tell me, how go the patrols?"

Everyone ate quietly, complimenting Bella on the meal as Jacob watched her carefully from the corner of his eye, wondering when the tea would kick in. 20 minutes later Bella bent over at the waist and gasped.

"Bells?" Jacob asked, rising immediately to his feet and moving beside her.

"Oh GOD," she muttered before pushing past him roughly and taking off for the bathroom.

Old Quil sat back and wiped his mouth before turning to look at Billy who was staring towards the hallway that Bella had just fled down with concerned eyes.

"So it begins," he said, standing and moving towards the porch as he pulled an herbal cigarette pack from his back pocket.

Jacob caught Sam's eye and after a moment of silent communication with his alpha, he took off down the hallway towards the bathroom. Bella hadn't even bothered to close the door, or maybe she just didn't have time, but now she was kneeling on the floor with one arm wrapped tightly around her stomach, heaving violently into the toilet.

He was almost bowled over by the strangely tinted scent of leech venom that flooded the room. It wasn't really like what they smelled like when they 'bled,' but it was close and somehow impossibly sweeter. Jacob pulled her hair back from her face and fought not to gag as what she had eaten for dinner finished off and instead she began throwing up a cross between bile and the silver liquid that he knew from the journals was being pulled from her internal body tissues and was now making an appearance in the porcelain of his toilet bowl.

"Jesus, Bells," Jacob muttered as she heaved again.

Bella sat back slightly on her heels and glanced back at him with glassy eyes. "I don't feel good, Jake," she stated unnecessarily.

"I know, Honey," he told her with a grimace, gently wiping a few stray hairs from her forehead. Yeah, she was already running a fever. "I'm so sor-"

He never got a chance to finish as she wrenched her head away, vomiting up more of that disgusting liquid and shaking from head to toe with chills. His wolf whined loudly and paced in his soul, both saddened and angry by the state his mate was in.

After an hour had passed, Bella's stomach had finally calmed down enough that he moved her to the bed with a bucket instead, pulling her sweat soaked hair into a messy pony tail on top of her head and coaxing her into changing out of her long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans. The clothes were stained with... stuff, and with how feverish she was, Jacob wanted her in something less hot. It was a testament to how out of it she was that she allowed him to basically undress her and redress her in one of his shirts.

He didn't allow himself to look at her body or enjoy the first (and potentially only) time he saw her in nothing but her underwear. He didn't even want to. Jacob was miserable and it was because his mate was literally expelling poison; poison that had accumulated into the tissues of her body through long term exposure to his natural enemy. It was, quite frankly, more than any wolf or man could handle.

He set himself up on a pillow and blanket next to the bed, close enough to watch over her without crowding her. He was exhausted but terrified to sleep, terrified of what might happen to her if he took his eyes from her or let her out of his sight for a minute. This was... so much worse than he had imagined. She was vomiting and sweating out the remnants of sway and there was so much more than even was documented from when the wolves took the remedy. He never imagined, even in his most paranoid moments, that she had this much in her system.

Jacob had never been so helpless before in his life.

* * *

"Don't! God, please, don't fight!"

Bella was screaming, trying to force her way off the bed and around him towards a scene only she could see. The hallucinations had begun an hour ago and they were beyond painful to hear.

"Honey, it's okay," Jacob breathed into her hair as she fought the grasp he had on her wrists. "It's not real. You're safe, no one is fighting. It's okay."

"No, no, NO!" She wailed, thrashing in his arms and kicking outwards. "Don't hurt him! JACOB!"

Jacob bit back a growl as the wolf thrashed at the confines of the man, desperate to find the source of Bells' misery so he could rip and tear and kill.

"Shhhhh," He soothed. "I'm right here, Honey. Everything is alright."

"Please take me," she pleaded. "Take me. Not Edward. Leave him... No! Leave him ALONE!"

This was another issue with the hallucinations. JACOB wasn't the only one she was calling out for. There was also the leech.

Jacob swallowed back bile, but answered regardless, a lot nicer than he would have bothered with if she wasn't so sick. "Edward's fine, Bells. He's in his house in Forks. All the Cullens are fine."

"I'm sorry," Bella whimpered. "I'm so sorry. I NEED him."

He closed his eyes. Dear God, he couldn't survive hearing this again.

"Jake," she whispered, eyes open but unseeing, wide and fevered. "Jacob, I love you."

She settled down after that, leaning into the heat of his body and burying her face in his neck to inhale. It couldn't possibly be good for her, to mix his high body heat with her high temperature, but if it helped with the hallucinations, it was definitely the lesser of the two evils. Eventually, Jacob released her wrists and settled next to her on the bed, holding the back of her head as she rubbed her sweaty face on his bare chest.

It was fine, really. He didn't care that she smelled like vomit and was sticky and completely out of it. He loved her and he'd give her anything to help her get through this. His body, his soul, his heart; she could have whatever she wanted and she could do with it what she would.

The wolf purred in agreement.


	3. Chapter 3

At some point Jacob must have slept because when he woke again, the sun was streaming in between his cheap, polyester curtains and he could tell from how the light was hitting the floor boards that is was at least 2 in the afternoon.

Jacob glanced down at the woman still snuggled into his chest. He ran a hand lightly across her forehead and found it blissfully cool. Bella's eyes blinked open at the movement and he found himself staring into big brown pools of confusion.

"Jacob?" she croaked, before covering her mouth as a coughing fit hit her.

"Hold on, Honey," Jacob told her as he ran to the kitchen for a glass of water. Old Quil and his dad were sitting on the couch and the medicine man raised an eyebrow when he passed, but Jacob ignored him in favor of getting Bella the water as soon as possible.

When he got back to the room, she was sitting up on his bed with the shirt pulled down over her knees, looking exhausted and lost.

"Here," he told her, watching as she tentatively sipped, winced, and then took a bigger drink. He sat beside her on the bed and rubbed his hands down his face, waiting for her to get her bearings before doing anything else.

Finally, Bella spoke. "Jake, I feel really weird."

Before he had a chance to respond her phone began to ring and with a sigh, Bella moved to pull it from her jeans on the floor. When she picked it up, her brow furrowed for a moment and she stared into the middle distance before she shook herself and answered.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Love," came the smooth velvet of the leech's voice across the line. "I was simply calling to check on you and see how your time with Jacob was going, but you didn't answer the first two times. I was so worried. Is everything alright?"

Jacob blinked. He hadn't even heard her phone ring; he had been more tired than he thought. Bella turned away from him, smoothing her hand over her hip before bringing it up to run through her tangled ponytail.

"Sorry, everything's good. We're having a good time."

There was a pause before Edward continued. "Are you sure? You sound a little hoarse."

"Oh, um," she started, looking down and biting her lip. "Jake and I stayed up late watching old movies and I just woke up a little bit ago. I'm still groggy."

"You know it's not good for you to stay up too late, Love, not even for fun," Edward warned. "You need your rest."

Bell's brow furrowed further and she glanced at Jacob for a moment before she answered. "Right. Okay. Well, listen, I was just about to get in the shower so..."

There was another silence before Edward cleared his throat unnecessarily. "Oh. Of course, I'll let you resume your weekend. I will pick you up at the treaty line tomorrow at 4."

"Alright, Edward."

"I love you, Bella."

"I..." Bella paused, moving the phone away from her ear and staring at her feet before she swallowed and brought the phone back to her ear. "I know you do. I'll see you tomorrow."

She clicked the phone off before Cullen could say anything else and stared at her hands, her eyes unfocusing as she fidgeted. Jacob waited for her to say something until finally she glanced up at him, chewing on the corner of her mouth.

"I think I really will go take a shower," she said quietly, moving towards her bag and pulling out a pair of undergarments that Jacob studiously did not allow himself to ogle and a pair of shorts. "I feel gross."

He watched her pull a tank top from her bag and hold it for a moment before she slowly put it back. A blush stole across her cheeks and she glanced at him nervously out of the corner of her eye before she moved to his dresser and quickly stole one of his few remaining t-shirts. Jacob grinned but she refused to look at him as she quietly let herself out of the room and plodded towards the bathroom across the hallway.

Jacob waited until the water turned on before he grabbed a clean pair of cut offs and jogged out to the living room. The two Quileute elders still waited for him and he held up a hand, moving towards the front door.

"Give me a second and we'll talk," he told them, running down to his garage where he had a camp shower installed. Jacob quickly rinsed off the sweat and other things he really did not want to consider from last night before pulling on his clean cut offs and jogging back inside. Bells was still in the shower and he moved quickly into his room, stripping off the sheets and bundling them up. He didn't want anything that might have the remnants of anything related to venom anywhere near her as long as he could fucking manage it.

With that in mind, he tossed the bucket from his open window along with the sheets and her dirty clothes to be dealt with later and moved back into the living room. Jacob propped himself up on the wall, listening to the sounds of the shower running as Old Quil and his father stared at him.

Old Quil huffed. "Well, boy? Did it work?"

Jacob sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm not sure yet," he answered honestly. "She definitely seems different and she acted confused when the leech called her, but we'll have to wait and see how she feels when she gets out of the shower."

Billy nodded before he turned to Old Quil. "I think we should give the two of them some space. The wolf needs some time with his mate, to make sure she is well and to figure out the effects of the venom purge."

Old Quil frowned, but seemed to consider the wisdom of Billy's words before he reluctantly nodded. "Fine, we'll go to Sam's. Bring the girl when you are ready to explain to us the effects of our rescue effort."

Jacob murmured something like assent, but inside, he wasn't sure he'd be bringing Bella anywhere. There was still the possibility that she would despise him once she knew what he did to her, no matter his intentions. He didn't know what he'd do if she still wanted to become a vampire without the sway in her system. If this didn't work, he was out of options.

Billy smiled wryly, noting his discomfort. "It'll be fine, son. She is your choice, and the wolf's choice. She will forgive you and, if we're right, thank you for what you did."

Jacob did not respond to that one way or another as his father and Old Quil saw themselves out, leaving him to settle down on the couch and wait for the water to turn off. A few minutes later it did and after a few more moments of rustling clothes and the occasional bumping sound, his Bells appeared in the doorway of the bathroom, toweling off her wet hair.

She smiled at him shyly and he couldn't help the large grin that split his face in response. Bella moved to sit beside him on the couch, setting the towel on the coffee table as she crossed her legs underneath her and ran her fingers through her wet hair.

"Were your dad and Old Quil sick, too?" She asked with a small grin. "That tea did not feel very lucky to me."

"No," Jacob answered quietly, feeling his smile fall as he rubbed his hand roughly down his face again. "They wouldn't be, though. That tea was made special for you."

Bella's face scrunched up in confusion as she bit her lip. "I thought Old Quil said it was, um, for luck and prosperity."

"Yeah," he confirmed with a small nod. "He lied."

Jacob turned on the couch, catching her small hands as she fiddled with the hem of her pilfered t-shirt between his own large ones. "Bells, I'm gonna tell you everything, but you have to promise to listen to every single thing I have to say before you storm out or yell."

With her tentative nod, Jacob began.

He told her about how that kiss felt to him, how she looked when she left him after the battle, and how the pain of watching her walk away was so much worse than his battle wounds. He told her about the list and the sway and the journals. He talked about the alpha's mate, how she was his, and how he'd never imprint. He explained the plan and his lie, the tea and the way it purged all the venom and sway effects from her system and the reasons why even if she hated him, he wasn't sorry at all.

"If you never want to see me or talk to me again," Jacob finished, ignoring the fierce growling and snarling of his wolf, "I'll deal with it. I just need to know if you're choosing death, that you're doing it all on your own and not because of some leech, narcotic thing. I still can't accept it, I can't, but at least then I'll know."

Bella had sat quietly through his whole explanation, eyes widening and mouth gaping at times, but she had honored her promise not to leave and not to say anything until he was done. Now she looked away from him, her face awestruck and almost incredulous as she blinked rapidly.

Jacob released her hands and sat back, waiting as five minutes passed in silence before he just couldn't stand it anymore.

"Bells, please?" he begged. "Just, say something? Yell or scream or cry, but please tell me what's going on in that head of yours."

Bella took a deep breath, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, before she licked her lips. "I'm wondering- I'm wondering if I ever actually loved him."

Jacob's heart skipped a beat and he swallowed heavily, while his wolf howled out his joy. The man was more cautious though, staring at the beautiful girl beside him as he tried to force his mouth to work.

"What do ya mean, Bella?"

She bit her lip and sighed. "When I first met Edward, he acted horribly, remember? I mean, now I know it's because I'm his singer and everything, but at the time, I just thought he was rude. Beautiful, but rude."

Bella fidgeted in her seat, eyebrows furrowing as she continued. "Then he kept telling me that we shouldn't be friends and I can remember not really understanding why I wanted to be? I mean, he wasn't nice to me. He was hot and cold and it gave me whiplash. But I kept feeling drawn to him, like I needed to know him even if I didn't want to."

"Now," she said tucking her hair behind her ears, " I feel... nothing. Like, I REMEMBER how much I love him. I remember how much I need him. But it's not... it's not actually there. It's like a movie I watched. I don't feel it anymore."

"And how do you feel about becoming one of them?"

Her face paled dramatically. "Nauseous."

Jacob closed his eyes, trying and failing to stop the swell of emotion from breaking over him as she spoke. God, she had been in the clutches of the leech's sway for so fucking long. Even if she was mad at him, he would never regret giving her the tea. She deserved to be free to make her own choices and he needed her alive. Still, he needed to know. She'd said she loved him before.

"Do you remember how you feel about me?" he asked hoarsely.

Bella smiled shyly, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. "Oh yes, I know exactly how I feel about you, Jacob Black," she teased him. "Annoyed, but grateful that you force fed me that herb blend. I- For the first time in so long, I don't feel like I'm being torn in half sitting next to you. I don't feel pulled towards you and away from you at the same time. You would think that learning that I had been under some sort of vampiric drugged effect for so long would make me upset, like, it should be traumatic, right? And maybe that'll come. Probably. I think I might be a little bit in shock. But right now, I just feel so relieved. Like I can breathe again. I've been under water for over a year. I feel... free."

"Do you still love me?" Jacob blurted out, unable to contain himself as his wolf railed at his insides. "Do you want me? I can wait; I'm not asking because we have to do anything right now or I expect you to be with me right away. But you said you loved me, just loved him more, and now we know you don't love him at all. So, maybe, with time-"

Bella's index finger pressed against his lips as she turned to him and he fought back the groan that erupted in his throat at the contact.

"I did this, didn't I?" she said quietly as she slid closer to him. "I made you so unsure, so afraid I wouldn't want you. I hurt you without ever meaning to."

He shook his head (it wasn't her fault and she had to know that) but before he could tell her so, her finger moved and her lips pressed ever so slightly against his in a tentative, barely-there kiss.

This time there was no stopping the groan that forced its way from his body but he kissed her back just as softly, keeping an iron hold on the wolf as he clawed for control, the urge to dominate and claim a constant thrumming under the sweet ecstasy of his mate's lips.

She pulled away quickly, causing Jacob to whimper so softly that he thanked god human ears could not hear it, then she smiled at him.

"It doesn't hurt," Bella said with wonder.

"What?" he asked, slowly trying to make his brain come back online after feeling her lips on his.

"The other times, when we kissed, I felt like my chest was splitting in two," she explained with awe in her voice. "It hurt so bad and I thought it was because I felt like I was betraying Edward, even if I wanted to kiss you. Now though, with the sway gone, it doesn't hurt."

"It hurt you to kiss me?" Jacob grit out, at once angry and sad at the revelation.

"Yes," she confirmed with a small nod. Then she smiled at him and climbed into his lap, straddling his waist as she brought her lips back towards his. "But not anymore."

This time, Bella's lips were much less tenative as they explored his. White hot pleasure shot up his spine as he let her play with him, sucking his bottom lip into her mouth and nibbling along it before hesitantly darting her tongue out to taste. It was intoxicating, the way his little mate was shy and curious, slowly driving him mad with her innocent touches and gentle pressure.

When he could take it no longer, he wrenched his mouth from hers, panting into the soft exposed skin of her shoulder where the stolen shirt had slid off, exposing the skin.

"Bella," he gasped. "Bells, Honey- We have to stop."

She stiffened in his arms and attempted to slide off him, no doubt remembering the leech's many rejections.

"No!" He almost shouted, tightening his arms so she couldn't run away. "No, it's not like that. It's the wolf, Bells. He wants his mate, we've been waiting for so long to have you here and willing and-"

Jacob cut off with a heavy swallow as Bella's hands began to tenatively run through his hair.

"I don't know if I can hold him back if we keep going, and I don't think you're ready to be claimed. I don't have the self-control right now. Actually, I don't even know if you want to be together. You didn't actually say."

Bella lifted his head from her shoulder, studying his face carefully as she bit her lip. It was more alluring than she could possibly understand.

"I'd, um, I'd like to be together now," she told him shyly, averting her eyes to the floor as her face flushed. "But- maybe you're right. About, you know, not being ready for... that. And..."

She trailed off as she studiously avoided his eye. "I need to talk to Edward."

Jacob stiffened, his wolf rattling the cage at the thought of her going anywhere near the blood sucker who they now knew could drug her into compliance.

"Bells," he started carefully. "If you go to see him, whether he means to or not, he could-"

"No!" she interrupted, shaking her head vehemently. "No, I don't mean, like, being in the same room as him. I mean that I need to, you know-" she trailed off, her voice going weak until she finished in a whisper, "-break up with him."

Relief crashed through him as he nodded enthusiastically. "Right. Good idea, Honey. I LOVE the idea of you not being in the same room with him. Let's call him."

Her eyes widened comically and she cleared her throat. "Now?" she squeaked out, hands dropping to once again toy with the hem of his shirt that she had stolen.

"No time like the present," he told her with a grin.

Bella breathed out, chewing her lip fervently as she slowly nodded. "Okay. OKAY. I can do that. Of course I can do that."

Jacob took her cheeks between his palms and brought her scared eyes up to meet his. "You CAN do it, Bella. I know you can."

She closed her eyes and relaxed into his hold before slowly blinking her eyes open. He saw acceptance in those deep brown depths. "Okay."

She stood and moved back towards the bedroom, leaving Jacob in the living room where he stayed to give her the option of the illusion of privacy. She didn't take it, however, and he was mildly surprised when she came back, cell phone in hand, and settled sideways on his lap.

With shaking fingers, Bella hit the number two speed dial and brought the phone up to her ear.

Edward answered on the second ring.

"Hello?"

Bella inhaled sharply and glanced at Jacob before studying her lap again. "Hi, Edward," she answered softly.

"Love? Is everything alright?" The Leech asked. Even he could admit, Edward sounded genuinely concerned. "I wasn't expecting to hear back from you before tomorrow. Would you like to come home early?"

"No Edward, I-" Bella cut herself off, cleared her throat, and then started again. "We need to talk."

There was a pause before he spoke again. "Of course. I'll come get you right now and then we can speak about anything you wish."

"No, we have to do it over the phone," she told him quietly.

"Love, I- why?"

"I can't be in the same place as you anymore. I can't be in the same room, I-" Bella cut herself off with a small sob, the reality of her situation seeming to finally hit her as Jacob felt her body begin to shake. He tightened his arms around her. "Edward, do you know what the 'sway' is?"

Silence reigned once more before the leech exhaled a deep unnecessary breath. "I believe that is what the shape shifters call our natural ability to attract our prey."

"Have you ever... used it on me?"

"What?!" Edward's voice rang out, aghast. "No, of course not! I have never purposefully dazzled you or drawn you into me. You- you aren't prey, Bella. I- Why are you asking me this?"

Bella's cries were quiet but her voice was watery all the same as she answered. "I had this tea, Edward. It clears the effects of the sway from your body. It- The more you have in you the sicker you get and it made me SO SICK."

She gasped, moving to wrap her arms around her middle in that same unconscious gesture that both he and the wolf despised but this time, Jacob's arms were already there. She blinked around her tears before settling her head on his shoulder, taking deep, shuddering breaths.

"I don't- I don't understand," Edward murmured into the phone. "I have never, WOULD never, try to influence you like that. I love you, Bella. You're my mate, my forever. We- Just, you need to come home and I'm sure that we can talk to Carlisle and sort this out. I am so incredibly sorry for any ill effects you have suffered, but with the wedding and your change upcoming, any negative impact should quickly become irrelevant."

Bella shook her head and swallowed heavily. "You, um, you don't understand. You aren't HEARING me. I had SO MUCH in me. I feel like the entire time we were together, I was underwater. Everything is foggy. I can't- it's like a drug, you are like a drug to me. I can't be anywhere near you without it pulling me under."

Edward took a shaky breath as Jacob brought his hand up to run through Bella's hair. "Love, I'm not sure what to do here. If we can't be together until the change, then maybe we should..."

His voice trailed off and Jacob swore he could almost hear it, the moment realization began to take hold and the cold, ugly truth of the matter crashed through the leech's consciousness. If he allowed himself a moment to let the hate and anger fall away, Jacob was fairly sure that Edward wasn't aware of the effect he had been having on the girl currently trembling in his lap. It wasn't his problem and the blood sucker's pain wasn't his concern, but having known the agony of believing that he himself was losing her, he almost, ALMOST felt sorry for Cullen. He'd probably feel worse for the leech if the guy hadn't been willing, even hesitantly, to literally kill her to keep her.

"Bella. I love you," Edward said softly. "Do you love me?"

"No," she whispered on a sob, burrowing into Jacob's chest.

There was silence on the other end of the line again, only Bella's soft, hitching breaths disturbing the quiet.

"I see," he finally said, his velvet voice suddenly flat and emotionless. "That changes things."

"I can't-" Edward began, his voice cracking in his grief despite his flat affect. "I can't apologize enough for any pain or upset I have caused you. I suppose I understand why you won't see me in person."

A bitter laugh sounded from across the phone. "For a long time, all I wanted was for you to understand the danger I was to you, to fear me enough to demand that I set you free. It seems that I finally have my wish."

Bella said nothing while tears continued to slip down her cheeks.

"I hope you will know that, despite whatever else this may be, I truly love you," Cullen continued softly. "I did not- I underestimated the effect of my allure. I believed our relationship was genuine and while I am unquestionably flawed and monstrous, I am not that sort of monster. It was never my intention to force you to- to love me."

"I believe you," she breathed into the phone. "But that doesn't really change what you did to me, does it?"

There was a pause, before Edward continued. "No. It does not. L- Bella, is Jacob with you?"

"Yes," She answered quietly.

"May I speak with him?"

Bella glanced up at him and Jacob held out his hand for the phone. She hesitated before she handed it to him and buried her head in his neck, crying softly.

"Cullen," Jacob said blankly, fighting the raging of his wolf inside him.

"Black," Edward replied evenly, all traces of affection gone from his voice, leaving only hollowness. "Would you permit me to ask you a few questions?"

Jacob inhaled slowly, allowing the scent of his mate to soothe him enough to finish this conversation. "I don't think so, leech. I get that you thought this was something different than it was, and I want to be a big enough man to be sorry for your pain. But I can't. What you did to her- Fuck, you raped her mind! Everyone warned you, vampires and humans aren't supposed to mix, but you just took her anyway."

"I didn't kno-"

"No," Jacob interrupted, growling softly as his grip tightened on Bella. "You didn't know what you would do to her, and that's just as bad! You risked it, risked HER, when you just didn't know what effect you'd have. She- If I hadn't helped her, if I hadn't seen it, she would have DIED because of you!"

"Jacob, I need to know what you did to her," Edward growled into the phone. "How can I trust that what you gave her only cleared out vampiric effects? How can I possibly know that the Bella I just talked to, that she is the real Bella?"

"You Mother Fucker," Jacob breathed into the phone, stunned that the leech could honestly think that he would EVER give her anything that would put her under his control or subjugate her will. "Think about this, you bastard; since you came back, in the moments that Bella supposedly loved you the most, adored you the most, did she EVER not love me too?"

"No," Edward snarled.

"That's because you can't kill real love, you can't steal it, and you can't make it disappear," Jacob rumbled. "If her love for you was real, I couldn't take it away."

"Jacob-"

"No, you're done talking, blood sucker!" Jacob roared, his whole body convulsing as the only thing keeping him in his skin was Bella in his lap. "The treaty is void. You didn't bite a human but you injured one at best, destroyed one at worst, and that violates the spirit of the whole damn thing even if it follows the letter. I'm taking Bella to Sam's and if you and your coven aren't gone by the time I finish telling them exactly how you are guilty, we'll rip you apart."

"You aren't the alpha, Jacob Black," Edward stated coldly.

"Not yet," Jacob agreed, a growl rumbling through him as he fought not to crush the phone between his fingers. "But I am a predator, we all are, and if you think for a second that Sam and the rest of them aren't going to be slathering to rip into you when they hear exactly what you did, all that poking around in our heads hasn't taught you shit."

With that warning, Jacob allowed his fist to close around the flimsy plastic.


	4. Epilogue

As predicted, Sam was absolutely livid and more than ready to rip the Cullens to shreds. But, he told an incredulous pack, they hadn't actually violated the treaty and no matter how irresponsible, their intentions were not dishonorable. Because of that, he called the head leech immediately and told him in no uncertain terms that he and his coven had until the morning to clear out completely and never, ever come back. Sam stated clearly that the treaty was void and if any of the Cullens ever came back to the Olympic Peninsula, they wouldn't be leaving it.

A council meeting was called and they supported the alpha's decision. The rest of the pack's opinion was varied. Everyone agreed that the time to play nice with the leeches was over, but the subject of whether the Cullens should ever leave Forks in the first place was a subject of hot debate.

Jacob was livid. He wanted blood, or whatever the hell it was they bled, and he wanted it all over the dirt right before he lit them on fire. Paul, who had despised Bella for as long as he'd known her, was disgusted by what they did to her and even though he and Jacob had never agreed on much of anything, they absolutely were on the same page on this. Learning what had happened to the girl who he had been so fiercely cruel to had changed his outlook on her significantly and while Paul was never particularly nice to anyone, he wanted vengeance.

Leah was particularly sensitive to anything that forced someone into a love they didn't feel and fair or not, she felt the same way about this as she did about imprinting. She was ready to dig claw and fang into them all.

Embry stood by Jacob simply because it was his best friend who was asking, as did Quil, but Jared and Seth maintained that Sam had made the right call. Jared wasn't personally invested and while he felt sorry for Bella, he didn't think the Cullens should be held responsible for their lack of knowledge. Seth loved Bella, but he saw the veggie vamps as people more than any other pack member and he did not want to see them harmed if another option existed. Collin and Brady were quiet and seemed to deem themselves too young to have much of a say anyway.

The pack ran from La Push to Forks at dawn the next morning to find the Cullen house abandoned. They burned it to the ground and returned to the reservation.

* * *

The next few months with Bella were difficult for Jacob. He finally had what he wanted, he had her, and yet, they still had to live with the ghost of the absolute mindfuck Bells had been through.

Her nightmares returned with a vengeance but this time, they were all about her becoming a vamp and decimating towns, killing her father, sometimes even draining whole schools of children. Jacob swore to her he'd never let it happen but the nightmares continued. Unlike Cullen, he refused to invade her room unless she specifically asked him to stay with her at night and she never did. He spent a lot of time sleeping below her window in wolf form and whining when she'd start screaming.

It didn't make any sense to take Bells to a councilor where she wouldn't even be able to discuss what happened to her, but Sue had approached them both and communicated that she suspected, based on her symptoms, that Bella may be experiencing PTSD. Without the leech's mojo in her system, she had to cope with the trauma of being tortured and bitten by the nomad, the experience of being controlled in the most basic of ways for over a year, and the extreme fear of Edward's return.

As soon as he had something to look up, Jacob went to the library and found everything he could on PTSD and how it would be affecting her. Bella definitely had an exaggerated startle reflex and she was constantly on guard, ready for the next shoe to drop. Despite the peace that followed the Cullen's retreat, she couldn't stop looking over her shoulder, ready for a vamp to show up and sink their teeth in her at any minute, or worse, put her back under the sway.

Even though Jacob and Bella were together, nothing much had changed and he had decided a long time ago to never push her. He had loved the way things were and now that she was his and only his, it was a hundred times better. They still held hands and now he got to kiss her whenever he wanted, but that was as far as it went except once or twice and he was mostly okay with that.

Okay, the MAN was okay with that. The wolf...

There had been a few heavier sessions, some over the clothes petting as things progressed, but that was it. The wolf didn't understand and sometimes attempted to take control by force. The instinct to claim was incredibly fierce. Thankfully, Jacob was strong enough not to be overwhelmed and determined to give her time to heal. She'd had enough taken from her that she hadn't wanted to give and he would NEVER take from Bella.

Just when she started to finally show some real improvement, a letter came reeking of leech stink from the little Pixie. The contact itself sent her through her through a loop but the content eased a deep-rooted fear that had clawed at her psyche constantly. The Volturi would not be coming for Bella. As penance, the gifted members had offered their services to the vamp ruling class for a century and the king leech had decided three incredibly talented vamps was a better offer than one potentially gifted human.

Even though it probably took Bells two weeks to recover from seeing her handwriting, the relief of not having to fight an army of gifted vampires was more than worth it.

Slowly, so very slowly, the nightmares became less and less frequent. Bella still jumped at loud noises and quick movements but her recovery time decreased significantly. Panic attacks happened less often and lasted less time and Jacob internally cheered with every single step she took forward.

* * *

The morning of Jacob's 17th birthday was rung in with an over-enthusiastic couple of wolves and a spray can. The behemoths had silently crept down the hallway into his small room before bursting in with war cries and pots to bang. Quil jumped on the bottom of his already over filled bed and banged a pan lid with a spoon while Embry attacked his face and chest with strands of disgusting smelling, pink silly string.

Jacob yelped loudly and fell to his hands and knees beside the bed, just managing not to phase in what would have been an embarrassing and incredibly destructive mistake.

"Get out!" he roared as his friends guffawed and dodged his fists on their way back to the living room. Embry side stepped but he managed to clock Quil around the head before the guy escaped.

"Get dressed, we're going to the diner!" Embry yelled down the hall as Jacob attempted to pull the fucking silly string from his hair.

He growled and stalked into the bathroom, slamming the door hard enough to make a point but not hard enough to break it. Bella had to work today, so he really didn't see why he should bother getting up and doing anything for his birthday regardless. He may have been pouting a little, but still, there was just no point in celebrating if it didn't involve Bells.

He showered quickly and pulled on an old pair of jeans along with an oil stained shirt before crawling into the back of Embry's car. Quil and Embry were laughing in the front seat, listening to the radio and smacking at each other while he dozed in and out all the way to Forks.

They arrived a short time later and with a heavy sigh, Jacob pulled himself out of the car and shuffled behind his friends into the restaurant. He inhaled the scent of bacon, eggs, and pancakes, keeping his eyes on his worn work boots, when suddenly his favorite aroma hit his nose.

Jacob's nostrils flared as his eyes shot straight to a booth in the back where a familiar brunette was smiling at him.

Vanilla and cream. Cinnamon. Bella.

His wolf purred in his chest as he picked up the pace, grinning widely as he slid into the booth next to her and wrapped an arm around her waist. She blushed as he yanked her into his side, ignoring the chuckles of his friends in favor of burying his nose in her neck and planting a brief kiss against her pulse.

"Good morning, Honey," he greeted her happily, pulling back just far enough that he could stare down into brown eyes as he talked to her.

"Happy Birthday, Jake," Bella said with a tiny grin, biting her lip lightly as she wrapped her hands around his middle and squeezed. He tightened his grip in return, reveling as he always did in the feel of her body pressed up against him.

"Good morning, Bella," Quil said loudly, looking at her with a glint in his eye that promised teasing if she didn't pay attention to him soon.

"Turns out, we're also here," Embry reminded them, grinning wryly as he picked up a menu.

"Yeah!" Quill agreed, pointing a finger at Bella and sending her a mock frown. "And your boyfriend wouldn't even be here this morning if we hadn't gotten him for you."

Bella nodded solemnly at the pair of them. "You are both so good at fetching things," she admitted, laughing out loud at the incredulous looks they shot her.

Jacob ignored their banter and turned his attention back to his mate. "I thought you had to work," he said softly, letting his hand settle beneath the hem of Bella's t-shirt so he could touch her bare skin.

Her cheeks pinked ever so slightly at his touch, but she didn't say anything about it as she shifted in her seat. "I did," she informed him, reaching for her mug of coffee and taking a sip. "But I managed to trade shifts earlier this week and I just wanted to surprise you. I'm actually yours all day."

He knew she didn't mean it like THAT, but the possessive aspects of the wolf bubbled up at her words and he had to fight back the pleased growl that threatened to rumble out of him.

_I'm actually yours all day._

_I'm actually yours._

_I'm yours._

Jacob inhaled sharply as he pushed back the instinct to make that claim a reality.

"And what do we plan to do today then?" he asked with an inadvertently husky voice, ignoring the knowing looks his friends were sending him. Thankfully, Bella seemed oblivious to his plight.

"Whatever you want, really," she said, offering a small smile to the waitress who came to take their order.

He forced his mind to come up with a food order he wanted and not to focus on... other things he may want.

Okay, other things he DID want.

He glanced over at his girlfriend as she licked a bit of sugar that had gotten stuck at the top from the lip of the coffee mug, biting back a moan. Shit, he was hard in the middle of the diner and Bella wasn't even trying to be alluring. She was just... everything he desired and he desired SO MUCH.

Their food arrived and Jacob inhaled it, trying to focus on nothing but the taste of his meal and failing miserably.

Beating back the wolf's instincts was getting harder every day. Even now he could feel the way the animal paced in his chest, the compulsion to claim and take and MARK forcing him to take deep breaths of air as he tried to control his body's response. It had been bearable, if barely, when she was sick; his impulses had been tuned then to making her better and healthier. Now, though, the wolf saw no further impediments and the man couldn't come up with any to deter him. And he wanted.

God, how he wanted.

"You ready?" came Bella's sweet voice from beside his ear, and Jacob started. He looked down and realized he had eaten everything on his plate without even being aware of it.

"Yeah," he told her, shooting her a smile as they made their way to the door. He draped his arm around her shoulders and led her to her truck, waving at Embry and Quil as they headed to the former's car and took off.

"Um, Jake?"

Bella's voice was soft and hesitant and when Jacob looked back at her, her face was strangely flushed.

"What's wrong, Honey?" he asked, stepping back away from where he had been reaching to open the truck door. He cupped her cheeks in his hands and looked down at her worriedly.

"N- Nothing," she assured him, blushing harder under his intense gaze. "I'm just, um, a little tired, I guess? Would you mind, you know, driving us back to La Push so I can rest?"

Jacob's lips quirked up and he pressed a tender kiss to her forehead. "Sure, Bells," he assured her, leading her over to the passenger's side instead. "No problem."

He helped her into the truck before jogging to the driver's side. He slid in and turned the key, listening to the beast roar to life before he backed out of the parking lot. Once they were on the road, he shot a glance over at Bella and his worry renewed. She was sitting a little rigidly as they drove and chewing fiercely on her lip.

"Do you want to take a nap, Honey?" he asked, motioning towards the bench seat of the truck. She was acting really weird, honestly, and both he and his wolf were starting to worry something bad was happening. Was she having some sort of relapse? Maybe something had triggered a panic attack.

Bella swallowed heavily, eyeing him beneath her thick lashes before she finally seemed to tighten her jaw with determination. She nodded and undid her seat belt to lay down beside him, surprising him a little when she rest her head on his thigh.

He glanced down at her dark brown hair spilling over his jeans and his eyes softened. He brought his right hand down to run through the silky strands before placing both palms back on the wheel and pulling his attention back to the road.

Five minutes passed as they rode in silence and Jacob was content just to be with his Bells, drowning in the scent of her with her cheek pressed to his leg. He felt her shift a little, as if she was trying to get more comfortable, but he jerked the wheel imperceptibly to the left when one of her little hands landed on the inside of his upper thigh.

Jacob's fingers tightened as he tried to force his body not to respond. 'She's just getting comfortable,' he reminded himself. 'Just enjoy that she's touching you, that she's near you.'

Her fingers began to rub patterns on the denim, lightly teasing at the sensitive skin through his jeans, and he swallowed hard. Jacob could feel blood rushing south and there was no stopping it, but he tried to ignore the sensation. It wouldn't be the first time he'd gotten hard when she touched him without those sorts of intentions. She'd even touched him there WITH those intentions, just a little and only through his pants, once or twice when they'd gotten lost in each other. If she noticed it now, she would just blush and take her hand back.

At this point, they'd talked about sex a little but he'd never pushed her and she'd never offered. So the car swerved violently when her little fingers wrapped around his rapidly hardening length and she stroked him through the material of his pants.

She stilled for a moment with her hand still resting on his crotch when the truck lurched. "Do you, um, do you want me to... stop?" she asked nervously.

His knuckles popped as his hands tightened further on the steering wheel before he quickly swerved off the road and stopped the truck on the side. Bella looked alarmed, sitting up abruptly and pulling her hand into her chest as if he'd burned her. Her knees came up to her chest and she started to close in on herself.

Jacob reached out for her, but she flinched backwards and his heart broke a little. He rushed to fix his mistake, holding out his palms placatingly in front of him as he turned to her in the truck.

"Fuck, Bells, don't do that; don't pull away from me. It's not like that," he said quickly, scooting a little closer to her even as she remained rigid on the seat. "No, I didn't want you to stop. I- you know I love it when you... touch me. I just, um... what are you doing exactly?"

Bella turned as red as her truck. "What do you- didn't you feel what I was doing?" she whispered, eyes carefully averted from his face.

Jacob glanced down at where he still strained painfully against his jeans and nodded. "Yeah, Honey," he answered, reaching for her again and breathing a sigh of relief when she didn't pull her fingers away. "I definitely felt what you were doing. What I meant is, we... um, we haven't really done much of that before and I was driving and I just- I just wasn't sure where you were headed."

Bella inhaled sharply and glanced around, still keeping her gaze from falling anywhere near Jacob. "I've been thinking a lot about, you know, the- the um... next level of our relationship," she mumbled, threading her fingers with his and holding on tight. "I was trying to be, sort of, fun? I guess?"

She cleared her throat and bit her lip. "I thought, since it's your birthday, I- I'd give you... me," she whispered as her blush spread down her neck and beneath her hoodie.

Jacob closed his eyes as his entire body tensed, fighting for control of the wolf that was howling in victory inside him. Lightening shot up and down his spine and he licked his lips. "What do you mean by that exactly?" he asked hoarsely.

"Oh God, Jake. Please don't make me say it," Bella whined.

"Do you mean sex?" Jacob said bluntly, studying her averted face closely. She nodded slightly and he bit back the groan that threatened to escape his throat as his belly tightened with arousal.

"Fuck, Honey, you know how bad I want you," he forced out through a tightly clenched jaw. "But it isn't just sex with me. You know that. It's... if I get you-"

He cut himself off as a shudder ran through his body and his wolf stalked inside him, growling at him to TAKE HIS MATE.

"If I get you under me..." he trailed off, but he knew Bella knew what would happen. The first time he got inside her, he'd mark her and she'd be his forever. He wouldn't be able to stop it; it was a primal urge equal to eating or breathing.

This time, she met his eyes. "I'm nervous about the... nervous about the sex, Jake," Bella said firmly, grabbing his other hand so she held that one too. "But I know what you want and now, I- I know what I want. And I want you."

Jacob brought his forehead down to rest against hers and sucked in a harsh breath. A year ago, she hadn't been his. Eight months ago, she'd been trapped under the sway and extremely close to becoming a mortal enemy. It was impossible to believe, truly, that he might finally get the only thing he'd ever really yearned for.

"You want me forever, Bells?" Jacob asked, voice rough and raw as he rubbed his nose against hers.

"I want you forever, Jake," she confirmed softly, pressing her lips to his gently as he felt a tear slip down his face.

Jacob's wolf purred and he sucked on HIS mate's bottom lip and the for the first time since he painfully turned into a giant animal at age 16, he didn't regret his heritage. It was worth the leeches. It was worth the pack mind. It was worth breaking half the bones in his body. It was worth knowing someday soon, he'd have to be alpha. He'd never regret any of it as long as he lived, so long as he got to keep her.

AN: This has gotten much more of a response here than on AO3 but I will only post the smutty outtake on AO3, due to community guidelines. So I'll be posting this note there as well: if you want a smutty outtake, now is the time to vote for it by dropping me a comment or pm. I'm not at all holding the smut hostage, I just don't know if there has been enough interest to bother writing their first time together. Let me know and if I end up doing one, I'll add one more 'chapter' as an author's note letting you all know it's ready to view on that site when it's done.


	5. Outtake is Up

AN: The smut that was promised it officially up on AO3. Thank you so very much to everyone who commented on this story and was with me through the whole fic. I really enjoyed sharing it and your comments and favorites just made it all the sweeter!

If you are trying to find the last chapter, you can either go to AO3 and search for my username, AvaJune, and then locate the story (the title is the same as here,)

OR

Here is the link, although you will have to remove the *s.

ht*tps*:/*/*archiveof*ourown*.*org*/works*/17770775*/chapters*/42070295

"Bella's hand was sweaty in his and he was so hard he was starting to wonder if this level of arousal didn't qualify as a serious medical condition, but after what seemed like sixty-seven fucking years, Jacob pulled up outside his house in La Push. He glanced at the squat, red little building and quickly dismissed it as an option.

His dad was in there and those walls were super thin. That sounded like a really horrible way to lose his virginity, to take Bella's virginity-

And there went more blood flowing south. How was that even possible? Surely he didn't have any more to fill his dick at this point, right? Hell, there couldn't possibly be any more room in those blood vessels.

He glanced over at Bella and wondered if she was having the opposite problem. All of her blood seemed to be pooled firmly in her face.

"Bells?" he said gently, waiting until her nervous, darting eyes met his. He squeezed her hand and offered her a smile. "We don't have to do this, you know, or we can just do some of it. You don't have to be sca-"

She clumsily flung herself across the truck and then his lap was full of Bella, Bella, Bella, Mate and she was trying to suck his soul out through his mouth and-

Jacob groaned as his hands grasped onto her hips and pulled her even closer. She gasped into his mouth, the painful line of his erection undoubtedly hitting all those mysterious, delicious, intriguing spots between her legs and he threw the door open..."


End file.
